Raspberry plant named ‘Driscoll Cardinal’

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of raspberry plant named Driscoll Cardinal. The new cultivar is distinguished from other raspberry cultivars by its firm and very consistent fruit with regard to its size and shape throughout its harvest period. The new cultivar is distinguished from its seed parent by having larger fruit and more vigorous canes; it is distinguished from its pollen parent by producing a higher yield of fruit and better flavored fruit.

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: The variety isbotanically identified as Rubus idaeus L.

1. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The new cultivar of raspberry plant was developed from the hybridizationof the selection ‘M48.9’ (an unpatented variety) as the seed parent withthe selection ‘Gloria’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,067) as the pollenparent. The parents were crossed in 1994, whereafter fruit and seed werecollected to produce seedlings for field planting in Carpenteria, Calif.in 1995. The new cultivar was selected from these seedlings in 1995 forits excellent attractive firm fruit. The new cultivar has been asexuallypropagated by in vitro shoot tip culture, root sucker division and rootcuttings at the Cassin Ranch in Santa Cruz County, Calif. and has beenshown to maintain the desired and distinguishing characteristics afterpropagation over several generations.

2. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a new and distinct cultivar of redraspberry plant named ‘Driscoll Cardinal’. The cultivar is botanicallyidentified as Rubus idaeus L. The ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ red raspberryplant produces a primocane crop which begins in mid-July and continuesuntil mid-October. The floricane crop begins in mid-May and continuesuntil mid-July. Both the primocane and floricane yields are highrelative to other comparable varieties. The fruit of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’is notably quite firm and very consistent with regard to its size andshape throughout its harvest period. The fruit of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’separates easily from its receptacle.

3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying photographs show typical specimens of the primocanefruit, leaves and shoot of the new cultivar, in color as nearly true asit is reasonably possible to make in color illustrations of thesecharacteristics.

FIG. 1 is a photograph of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ primocane flower fruit invarious stages of development.

FIG. 2 is a photograph of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ primocane leaves showingupper and lower leaf surfaces.

FIG. 3 is a photograph of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ primocane shoot.

4. DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the new raspberry cultivar,‘Driscoll Cardinal’, is based upon observations taken of 7 to 17 monthold plants and fruit grown in Watsonville, Calif. between 2001 and 2002,and is believed to apply to plants of the ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ cultivargrown in similar conditions of soil and climate elsewhere.

Throughout this specification, color names beginning with a small lettersignify that the name of the color, as used in common speech, is aptlydescriptive. Color data followed by an alphanumeric code designates thecolor according to The R.H.S. Colour Chart published by The RoyalHorticultural Society of London, England. Color designations, colordescriptions, and other phenotypical descriptions may deviate from thestated values and descriptions depending upon variation inenvironmental, seasonal, climatic and cultural conditions.

Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics ofthe new cultivar ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ compared with characteristics ofthe unpatented raspberry cultivar ‘Heritage’. Observations of thecultivars were taken under similar conditions.

The new variety is particularly characterized and distinguished fromother cultivars by its fruit firmness, consistent fruit structure andhigh yield.

The fruit color of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ is a medium red at harvest butdarkens slightly after harvest to a deeper color. Fruit of ‘DriscollCardinal’ separates easily from the receptacle and is of excellentfirmness at harvest. The fruit of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ is very consistentin size and shape throughout the harvest period. The average plantheight is about 200 cm and the average plant spread is about 80 cm. Theprickle pigmentation color is 187A. The pedicel pigmentation color is144A. The pigmentation color of the young shoots is 144A in color andthe average number of young shoots per plant is 17.

The reproductive organs of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ are variable. Thepigmentation color of both surfaces of the petals is 155D and there arefive petals per flower. The style pigmentation color is 157D, theaverage number of styles per flower is about 100, the antherpigmentation color is 155D, and the average number of anthers per floweris about 108. The color of the seeds of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ is 161A, theaverage seed weight is about 1.2 mg, and there are an average of about94 seeds per fruit.

The primocane and floricane yields of ‘Driscoll Cardinal’ are highrelative to the variety ‘Heritage’.

‘Driscoll Cardinal’ is distinguishable from its pollen parent, selection‘Gloria’, by producing a higher yield of fruit and better flavoredfruit. The new cultivar is distinguished from its seed parent, selection‘M48.9’, by having larger fruit and more vigorous canes.

4.1 DISEASE AND STRESS RESISTANCE

Resistance is unknown to powdery mildew and root rots. Cold tolerance ofthe new cultivar has not been established. Post harvest fruit rotresistance is good in comparison over many selections and varieties.

TABLE 1 PLANT CHARACTERISTICS OF ‘DRISCOLL CARDINAL’ Driscoll CardinalHeritage General Plant size small-med Large Growth habit erect erectProductivity High Medium Self-fruitfulness Self-fruitful Self-fruitfulTime of bud burst late late Primocane fruiting Percent of cane length30-40 20-40 flowering as primocane Percent of total yield 51 53Primocanes Number of young shoots many medium Young shoot pigmentationmedium medium Length (cm) 2.00 1.96 Time of shoot early very lateemergence Glaucosity (waxy bloom) weak weak Strength medium medium Canecross section rounded rounded from mid cane of primocane) Dormant canecolor dark brown w/quite brown to purple a lot of purple brown PricklesPigmentation brown to purple green- brownish to green Density on youngshoots medium dense Attitude of tip downward downward Size: Length (baseto tip at 1 2.3 1 m height at end of harvest) (mm) Texture smooth rigidPresence and distribution on present, irregularly present petiolesirregularly distribtuted Pubescence on canes absent absent Internodaldistance (cm) (at 6.5 5.3 central ⅓ of cane) LEAVES Color Face 147A 147AUnderside 148C 148B Relief between veins weak very weak Glossinessmedium medium Petiole length (cm) 5.4 7.6 Stipule orientation erecterect Arrangement compound compound Number of leaflets sometimes 3,sometimes 3, sometimes 5 sometimes 5 Overlapping of lateral leafletstouching free to touching Lateral leaflet: length of stalket short veryshort (lower pair) Terminal leaflet Length (cm) 10.7 14.6 Width (cm) 6.87.8 Shape ovate ovate Tip acuminate acuminate Base round acute torounded Margin doubly serrate doubly serrate Lateral leaflets (basalpair) Length (cm) 9.4 14.7 Width 6.6 8.6 Orientation opposite oppositeShape ovate ovate Tip acuminate acuminate Base round oblique Margindoubly serrate doubly serrate Rachis length between 3.4 1.5 terminalleaflet and adjacent lateral leaflets (cm) FLOWERS Flowering periodPrimocane 15 weeks 19 weeks early June- late May- mid-September lateSeptember Floricane 12 weeks, 10 weeks, late March- late March- lateJune mid June Flower diameter (cm) 1.5 1.8 Petal Length (cm) 0.9 0.8Width (cm) 0.4 0.3 Pedicel coloration medium Present, strong intensityFRUIT Harvest season Primocane mid-July-early Oct Early July-earlyNovember Floricane mid-May-late July Late May-late July Fruting lateralLength (4^(th) lateral from 68.6 49.8 tip) (cm) Number of fruit perlateral 19 20.3 Color Immature  44D  42C Maturing  46A  46A Mature fruit 53A  59A Glossiness weak medium Shape ovate ovate Dimensions Sizemedium small Length 20 17 Width 20 18 Length:width 1.0 0.94 Weight(g/fruit) Primocane 4.1 3.1 Floricane 3.8 2.3 Soluble solids (%) 10.310.8 Titratable acidity 1.60 1.58 (% as citric acid) Seed Weight (mg)2.3 1.5 Number druplets/fruit 94 72 Adherence to plug medium mediumFirmness med-firm to firm Firm Yield high medium

4.2 NUCLEIC ACID FINGERPRINTING

Distinctive patterns of polymorphism can be detected using a variety ofnucleic acid analysis methods. In one non-limiting example, moleculargenetic maps can be produced using random amplified polymorphic DNA(RAPD) (Williams et al., 1990, “DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitraryprimers are useful as genetic markers”, Nucleic Acids Res.18(22):6531-5). Using a variety of oligonucleotide primers, alone or incombination, RAPD analysis of Driscoll Cardinal and Heritage yielded DNAfragment patterns that uniquely distinguish each of these geneticallydistinct genotypes.

We claim:
 1. A new and distinctive cultivar of raspberry plant,substantially as shown and